To Call Her Nat
by Troubles In Paradise
Summary: When Special Agent Natara Williams refuses to let Detective Mal Fallon call her Nat, he becomes determined to earn that privelege as a sign of him getting closer to her. But what will it take? *Don't judge based off the summary, I couldn't think of anything better.*
1. Chapter 1

**So I know I haven't updated my other story, Redemption of An Unquiet Soul, but that's because I've been really busy with AP classes and tennis, but I'll update as soon as I can. I had this cute (or corny) little idea for a short story though, so here it is! :) It's in Mal's POV and it takes place in the first few volumes.**

**To Call Her Nat**

As I step onto the docks of Fisherman's Wharf, a cool salty breeze blows by me. The bustling of officers and yellow tape remind me of what I missed while on suspension. Just another day. Just another case. Well, I guess this isn't just _any_ case. Some guy killing girls and making plaster masks on their faces is just messed up. This certainly isn't your typical robbery gone wrong. As I make my way to the crime scene, I'm greeted to the sight of a young girl with a white mask fixed nicely to her face. I exchange some questions with Captain Yeong and then decide to make my way to the body. That's when a young woman steps out from the circle and decides to take a picture. Here we go again.

"Miss, please back away from the crime scene." The woman turns to look at me with the intent to put me in my place. "I would, but that would make doing my job more difficult," she cooly replies as she whips out her FBI badge. My response is to state the obvious. "You're with the FBI?" "You've got a serial killer on your hands, and the Bureau sent me to assist with profiling. Are we going to have a problem?"

I took notice of her for the first time. She was tall, had long dark hair that was as silky as the hair from a shampoo commercial, and, to be blunt, was stunningly beautiful. _Not at all_, I thought, but I wasn't dumb enough to say that. "Captain?" I think I said that with too much hope in my voice. "I didn't expect them to get someone out here so fast. . . But yes, I heard we'd be receiving assistance from the Bureau. Do me a favor and play nice." _That_ sounded like a yes. Time to turn the Fallon charm on. "I'll try not to bite." I turn my attention back to the woman.

"I'm Detective Mal Fallon." She shoots me a serious straight foward look. "Special Agent Natara Williams." _Natara huh?_ "Can I call you Nat?" If looks could kill, I think she would've killed me. . . multiple times. "You can call me Special Agent Williams." I'm taken aback by her answer, and I look her straight in the eyes. I see a cold wall, built with bricks of seriousness and guarded with indifference. But something else happens, something I didn't expect would happen. In the split second between her answer and my coming response, I looked into her hazel eyes, and I was overwhelmed with a strange feeling. I couldn't explain it. It's like if I had been lost all of my life, looking into her eyes made me feel found. Or maybe it was the other way around. It's confusing either way. I shake it off and continue with what I was going to say.

"Well, Special Agent Williams, mind if I examine the crime scene?" "Be my guest." With that we turn to inspect the body, but the whole time we were there talking about the case, I couldn't help but think about my new partner. She's a mystery, and there isn't anything I wanted to do more than to throw everything down and take her to dinner, so I could ask her a million questions, and maybe figure her out. That wasn't going to happen though, not with her. She was. . . Different. I would have to start slow, chipping away at that wall of hers, so I decided on a simple goal. A mile marker if you will. _I was going to earn the privilege to call her Nat._


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2: Try and Try Again**

**A few days later: **As Special Agent Williams and I stand on the patio of Rip Van Winkle's, I babble on about how my wife left me while I twirl the wedding ring on my finger. I couldn't even bring myself to tell my _best friend _Ken about Sandra leaving me, so how come I can tell her? She comforts me and acts like my divorce surprises her, but she already knew about Sandra. I could tell. How did she know? I couldn't even figure out where she came from, yet she takes one glance at me and knows my whole life story. She's something else. I decide to take a stab at figuring out her past.

"So, Agent Williams, what's your dark secret?" I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. For a split second, I watch her eyes become lost in reminiscence. The wall that's behind her eyes is ablaze with sorrow and regret. She breaks off from the moment and puts her guard up again. "I should go. Thanks for dinner, I had a great time." "Natara. . ." She leaves without another word, and I don't have the nerve to stop her. It wouldn't do any good. Well I didn't find out anymore about her, but _at least I got my dinner with her._

**Attempt #1: **"Would you rather go on a date with a monkey, or with Kai?" Natara shoots me a look of disgust from the passenger seat of my car as we drive to a new crime scene. "Definitely a monkey!" I can't help but laugh. "Good choice." Natara laughs too. "Why are you even asking me these dumb 'Would you rather?' questions?" "Kai kept asking me them back at the lab until I punched him. But they can actually be entertaining if you ask the right questions." Natara shakes her head. "Are you actually being influenced by Kai Kalaba?" I turn my attention from the road to her. We've become pretty good friends over the past few weeks, and that makes me happier than I thought it would. She still has that wall, but her eyes are warmer, like she's gotten comfortable around me. But I still haven't achieved my goal. "Don't ever say that sentence again Nat." I say as fake serious as I can. Natara scowls at me. "Please don't call me that. I hate that nickname." I hide my disappointment. "Oh, sorry my bad." Her face softens. "It's alright."

**Attempt #2: **We're sitting on the roof of my building because the air isn't working very well in my apartment. I watch Natara's face light up as she shovels her Chinese food into her mouth, and I realize she means something special to me. I'm not really sure if it's a crush or if she's meant to become my best friend, but I knew it meant something if I realized this when her face is buried in a cheap white food box. "Oh my god this stuff is amazing!" she mumbles through a mouth filled with chicken. I chuckle softly. "I still can't believe you've never had Chinese takeout." She smiles. "Me either, but it's quickly becoming my favorite food." I look at her quizzically. "You mean Natara Williams isn't listing French cuisine as her top pick anymore?" "French cuisine looks more civilized, I'll file Chinese takeout under Secret Obsessions." She gets a laugh out of me this time. "You should really try the Mongolian Beef sometime, nothing beats it." I advertise. "Maybe another day." she replies as she swallows another bite. "Alright, but you don't know what you're missing Nat." She drops the fork into her box and scowls at me again. It kind of hurts. "I thought I told you not to call me that." I try to defend myself. "Uh, well yeah I know but. . ." _Good defense Mal._ I finally form a sentence. "Maybe if you told me why you don't like that name, I might remember better not to call you that." She looks out towards the city skyline. Her eyes are lost, deep in thought, like they were the last time I asked about her past. After what seems like an eternity, she refocuses her attention back on me. "It started back in Quantico, when I met Special Agent Shawn Mallory. . ."

**Attempt #10:** I'm never really sure when I should try again, because I'm afraid of her scowl. _Her scowl. _I get it when I do stupid things that risk our safety, when I tease her about her and Shawn, when I throw my dreadful sarcasm at her, and whenever I try calling her Nat. I've tried seven times since that night on my roof. Once when we went out to eat after closing a case, two times when we were eating Chinese takeout, two times while we were reading over case files, one time I just shoved it into a sentence when I was talking really fast, and another time after work when it was really late and I thought she might be too tired to notice. But of course she noticed each time and each time I was met with that hurtful, and increasingly more annoyed, scowl. I've debated just sticking "Nat" into every sentence until she gets fed up and gives in. But I feel like that would defeat the purpose of why I set the goal in the first place.

She lets Shawn call her Nat. I don't really understand their relationship. They met. He was her trainer. She was his trainee. He fell for her. She didn't understand. They waited. She still wasn't sure. She took a chance. They were happy, or at least, _he_ was happy. She shot him by accident. He almost died. She fled to San Francisco. He followed. He still loved her. She felt _something. _And here we are today. I think what she felt was obligation, but I never told her that. She doesn't like people calling her Nat because of what happened between her and Shawn, yet she's back with him. She's trying to fix her damage with the cause of her damage. There's something off about Shawn, but I just tell myself it's because he's basically the complete opposite of me personality wise.

I realize my mind has drifted off when Natara snaps her fingers in front of my face. "Hmm, what?" "You've been staring at the wall for the past ten minutes." I shake my head. "Lost in thought." She goes back to her paperwork "Care to share?" I flash her a cheeky smile. "Not very interesting." She looks up. "Could not have been too bad if you spent ten minutes thinking about it." She can read me like a book. I won't be able to deflect the question. Time to bring out the secret weapon. "You know me Nat, my thoughts aren't interesting." Bam, there's that scowl, right on cue. "God dang it Mal, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me-" I cut her off. "-Nat. Don't call you Nat. I know." She pauses when she hears the dejected tone in my voice. "Then why do you keep trying?" I look her in the eyes. "It slips out sometimes." She looks slightly confused, like she wants to be mad but can't, before going back to her paperwork without another word. I return to my work as well. _At least she forgot what she was interrogating me about._


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3: Breakthrough**

I've missed working with her. I had just come back from my extended leave when the Zero case suddenly hit a wall. Another case had come up, a simple homicide, and Captain Yeong decided to pair us back up temporarily because she thought we would make quick work of it. And we did. Greg Tulley, a 25-year-old jerk-wad, killed his brother's ex-girlfriend Laura Wells because she rejected his advances.

So, Natara and I were on our way to apprehend him. I stare at the city buildings as they blur by, listening intently to her as she speaks. I didn't really hear words; her voice alone could distract me from any task I was attempting to accomplish. I have long since accepted the fact that I have a crush on her. I'm not sure why it took Tasha dying for me to realize that. When I was lost in my sea of darkness and sorrow, she was my beacon of light. I even tried telling her all of this, but Shawn walked in with Indian takeout right when I was getting to that part. _God, Shawn with Indian takeout._ I wonder if he knew Natara loved Chinese food more. But that's in the past.

I start to tune in to what she is saying. She was talking about Shawn. She doesn't bring him up much, which I'm grateful for. She's professional about it. "And then he surprised me with this bouquet of flowers." "What were they?" We pulled up a few blocks away from Greg's safe house, a dilapidated brick apartment building that was long abandoned, and got out of the car. It stood on the street by itself, which added more sense of insecurity to it. "Carnations." "You sound disappointed." "I like them, but they're not my favorite." We stealthily circled the perimeter of the building and found a smashed in window of the basement. "What flowers are your favorites?" I whisper. "It's silly," she replies just as quietly. "Nothing about having a favorite flower is silly." I whisper back.

We lower ourselves into the basement and decide to end the conversation. The basement is large and filled with multiple pieces of furniture like couches and tables that must have once decorated the apartments. I sweep the left side of the basement and she sweeps the right. We nod at each other and start to make our way to the door leading up to the rest of the building when it bursts open to reveal Greg wielding two pistols. He blindly fires off two shots in our direction but they lodge themselves into the wall behind us. "Leave me alone!" He fires off two more shots. Natara and I scramble to find cover, and find it in a giant mahogany table already turned on it's side. _Convenient. _A shot fires off, but buries itself into the wood of the table. "You'll never punish me!" Greg spits furiously. Natara's voice rings out over three more shots. "Greg you killed Laura in cold blood! You're going down for that regardless but you'll only make it worse if you keep firing at us!" I can almost feel Greg's anger growing. "I loved her! Why didn't she love me?" Two more shots. We promised Maria we would try to bring this guy in alive, but we have to protect ourselves. Natara and I shoot blindly behind cover. _"Hkk!"_

Silence fills the room. I heard him get hit, but we aren't idiots. Moments pass when out of the corner of my eye I see Greg, clutching his arm and standing 30 feet to the left of us in the far corner of the basement. He was trying to get the drop on us and get behind our cover. Greg and I both fire at the same time. His shot hits and destroys one of the legs of the table, sending splinters flying over Natara and I. My shot misses him but sends him stumbling back towards the door. "You'll pay for this! I won't leave until you're dead!" He roars. Suddenly there's a clicking of an empty gun and a frustrated grunt from Greg. Natara turns to me. "Here's our chance, he's out of bullets." She starts to rise when a realization hits me. He has two guns. Six-shooters. 12 bullets. _I only heard eleven._

_ "_Natara no!" I rise up from cover with her and I'm met with the sight of a smirking Greg pointing his loaded gun at Natara's head. Time slows down as I watch him start to pull the trigger. Natara doesn't have enough time. I throw all of my weight towards her to push her out of the way. The gun goes off right when my head is where Natara's was. I expect to hit the ground dead. But instead, I collapse on top of Natara, very much alive. I roll off of her onto the cold concrete floor, and she springs into action to get Greg now that he is really out of bullets. There's a strong stinging sensation in my temple and when I touch that spot, I recoil in pain, my fingers covered in blood. I sit up and Natara returns with Greg in handcuffs. She looks shaken. "Got him."

Two hours later I walk away from the ambulance sitting outside Greg's safe house after they stitch me up. Flashing red and blue lights blind me but I still see Natara. She is sitting on the hood of her car. I make my way over to her. She smiles at me. "How's your head?" "Just a graze, nothing a few stitches and gauze can't fix." I point to the obnoxious band of gauze wrapped across my forehead and around my head. Natara examines my head with her eyes and her face turns serious. I meet her gaze. Those walls are still there, but I can see that I've punched holes through them. "You were ready to take that bullet for me weren't you?" she asks quietly. I settle down next to her on the hood. "Yes, I was." She looks confused. "Why?" I try to think of answer. There are a million different reasons, but I settle on one. "You mean something to me, Nat." She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder. _She smiled._ I wait for the scowl, the objection, the "Don't call me that.", but it doesn't come. Luckily, she can't see me with her head on my shoulder, because I'm grinning like an idiot. An idiot who just won the lottery. "Lillies." "What?" I asked puzzled. "Lillies are my favorite flower. Our family traveled a lot, and we weren't home much, but when we were, there was this field of lilies in the backyard I would spend hours playing in. So, I guess you could say they remind me of home." I'm still so elated from my achievement I almost forget to respond. "That's not silly at all. That's really sweet." A moment of silence falls on us and I take in as much as I can from it. "Agent Williams!" Captain Yeong calls out to her. She motions for Natara to go over to her. "I'll be back Mal." With that she gets up and walks away.

I feel like jumping up and down and pumping my fist in the air in triumph. I can't believe I finally did it. I never imagined how happy this would make me feel. I broke through the wall.

Baby steps. That's what it was going to take with Natara. I didn't care how long it baby steps, I knew I could win her heart one day. And that thought left me grinning like an idiot again, like only she could make me do. I didn't even notice Ken walk up next to me. "What's got you all giddy?" I never took my eye off her. "I earned my privilege Ken." "Privilege to do what?" I look up at him and proudly say, _"To call her Nat."_

**The End**

**So it ended up being a little longer than I wanted it to be, but oh well! Let me know what you think!**


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